Finding God in the Hard Times , livre ebook

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2005 by Matt and Beth Redman
Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Bethany House edition published 2016
Previously published by Regal Books as Blessed Be Your Name , first edition 2005, second edition 2008.
Ebook edition created 2016
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — for example, electronic, photocopy, recording — without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4412-2906-9
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com .
Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations labeled T HE M ESSAGE are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NASB are from the New American Standard Bible®, copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations labeled NLT are from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Cover illustration by Wayne Brezinka
Cover design by Dan Pitts
Endorsements
“Hope and praise in the midst of our darkest nights. Through their own struggles, Matt and Beth offer powerful and life-altering encouragement for us all.”
Louie GiglioPassion ConferencesAuthor, I Am Not, but I Know I AM
“I count it a great honor to call Matt and Beth my friends, and there are few people whom I respect more. This book is so timely and needed in the Church today. Every page seems to deal with what is left out of much of our worship. We all experience the bottom of life at some point, and interestingly, that’s usually where we find God to be the closest and most familiar. Matt and Beth encourage us that in all things, the good and the bad, God is worthy of our praise.”
Chris TomlinSongwriter and Worship LeaderAuthor, The Way I Was Made
“Matt and Beth’s powerful anthem ‘Blessed Be Your Name’ is a gift to the Church; it has given us faith-filled words to declare when life seems to have crumbled around us. But Matt and Beth wouldn’t have been able to write this song without enduring their own pain. In this book, they describe some of what they’ve suffered, and they share Scriptures that God used to console them. What a compassionate and mighty God we serve!”
Darlene ZschechSongwriter and Worship Leader,Hillsong Church, Sydney, AustraliaAuthor, Extravagant Worship and Kiss of Heaven
Dedication
Dedicated in loving memory of Rachel McColl
and Natalie Kathryn Brown
Contents
Cover 1
Title Page 3
Copyright Page 4
Endorsements 5
Dedication 7
Acknowledgments 11
Foreword to the First Edition by Jack W. Hayford 13
Foreword to the Second Edition by Andy Hickford 17
Introduction 23
1. My Heart Will Choose to Say 27
2. The Road Marked With Suffering 39
3. Though There’s Pain in the Offering 55
4. Turn It Back to Praise 73
5. You Give and Take Away 83
Discussion Guide for Small Groups 93
Bible References Contained in This Book 109
Recommended Reading on Suffering 117
Notes 119
About the Authors 123
Books by Matt and Beth Redman 124
Back Ads 125
Back Cover 127
Acknowledgments
Thanks to:
Don Williams and Louie Giglio for support and feedback
Claire Prosser and Ellie Zaragoza for lots of research and support
Jo Trevor for the statistics you provided
Pastor Jack Hayford and Pastor Andy Hickford for your wise and powerful opening words
All at Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group
Foreword to the First Edition
Stunned!
Shocked by circumstance!
Set back!
Shaken by life’s earthquakes!
We’ve all gone through difficult times, but not all of us have managed them well—at least not when we were hit by the first of the many collisions that are a part of life. At some time, we will go through overwhelming and staggering events that will seem to shatter our life’s horizon. These events come like lightning bolts—unpredictable and blinding—only to be inescapably followed by the rolling thunder of whatever aftermath the unwelcome eventuality brings.
Matt and Beth Redman have experienced such events and, as a result, not only have they given us a wonderful song to assist us in the face of such circumstances, but they also offer this book to encourage us. If you’ve “been there, done that” when it comes to having experienced trials that, while not shaking your faith, have left you shaken with questions, then you’ll be blessed as Matt and Beth share these letters and their own stories of how in the midst of life’s shattering moments, the Holy Spirit can bring us stability in the presence of the One who alone is able to calm our fears and address our questions with himself —the ultimate and only adequate Answer.
This song became an anchor to the life of our daughter Rebecca, as well as to the entire congregation at The Church On The Way , when Scott Bauer, Rebecca’s husband, our son-in-law, and the congregation’s senior pastor, died almost instantly at age forty-nine due to a massive hemorrhage from a brain aneurysm. In what we see as the prime of life, a beloved husband, father, and shepherd was suddenly transported to his eternal home. And while the confidence of his being “present with the Lord” held—and yes, holds —great spiritual comfort, derived from our faith in Jesus Christ, when such a shocking event occurs, seldom does immediate consolation come to the raw surfaces of our emotionality or the rough edges of our mind’s reasoning.
God isn’t offended by this. Indeed, Jesus’ tears at Lazarus’s tomb—even in the face of His knowing that He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead—are enough to assure us that He understands our grieving over life’s losses, trials, or shaking circumstances. We do have a place of refuge in, and recourse to, the One who is “touched with the feeling” (Hebrews 4:15 KJV ) of our weaknesses, pain, and struggles.
We, and our church family, tasted that compassion when Matt and Beth’s God-given song became rich ministry to us and became a balm of healing in the congregation’s life. Rebecca had called me the day after Scott died and said, “Dad, could we sing ‘Blessed Be Your Name’ on Sunday? I keep playing and singing it over and over here at home.”
To my chagrin, I had to admit that I didn’t know the song. Because Scott had assumed the oversight of the church, my travels had disallowed my keeping current with the congregation’s worship repertoire. But I learned Matt and Beth’s song that Sunday, and I can hardly describe the progressive infusion of faith it gave us—even more, the joy beyond sorrow that spread through all of us—during those first days after Scott’s homegoing. We sang:
And when the darkness closes in, Lord,
Still I will say . . .
Blessed be the name of the Lord,
Blessed be Your glorious name.
Oh, what comfort! What a strong, stabilizing, comforting, dynamic, and Word-centered declaration!
And so, Matt and Beth, my deep thanks are extended to you. I understand, as composers do, that songs do not come without having paid a personal price to learn their truth. You have enriched us all by drawing us to the deep truth that, ultimately, knowing Jesus isn’t about “getting blessed” or “receiving blessings.” Rather, it’s about knowing Him—the changelessly faithful One—no matter what is going on around us!
As you, dear reader, take up this book, I believe that you will be blessed and taken into the dimensions of enrichment that are only found in finding God’s love and comfort within trial and beyond sorrow. Not only are God’s love and comfort evident in the testimonies written in this book, but they are also timelessly and preciously promised in His Book: the solid, unshakable covenant of God’s Word, which assures us,
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. . . . When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned (Isaiah 43:2).
Pastor Jack W. Hayford Chancellor, The King’s College and Seminary
Foreword to the Second Edition
The phone rang at 5 a.m. Two dear friends were on the line. Their four-year-old was dying of a brain tumor and had been taken into the hospital—would I come and pray? For the next couple of hours, I just stood silently in the corner of the hospital room, pleading with God as two remarkable people tried to come to terms with every parent’s worst nightmare as they comforted their young son in his last days.
Around 7 a.m., I got another call. This time it was Sarah, another church member, who was terminally ill with cancer. She had experienced a massive seizure that morning and had been rushed into the hospital. I went down to see her in the accident and emergency ward, and after she regained consciousness, we started chatting together. Sarah was a woman of great faith who knew that she was dying. We talked of our Christian hope of a new heaven and new earth, and agreed that one day we would like to “do” the coast of Donegal together! I treasure the memory of how keen she was to know whether I thought there would be Guinness available! She was still smiling when the hospice staff arrived to take her into their care.
All the while, however, I was anxious to make two phone calls of my